Every family has one, the imperfect child
by special agent Ali
Summary: Joe Hardy has run away. After eighteen months, his father and brother run into him while on a case. But is it too late to fix the obvious broken relationship between Joe and his family?
1. Prologue, the lost boy found

_Ok I have absolutely no clue how to begin Help me Brother I am so sorry but I do have this other story I wanted to write_

_Both these came to me last night in a dream. I don't plan out stories because I have short term memory and so if I just type if I have an idea._

_Might be a while for update unless u all have suggestions. I am willing to listen._

_But anyway here is my other story. Again it's a prologue._

It was supposed to be relaxing. He should have known better.

They were putting Angelina in her crib when he heard a noise come from the living room. Cassandra had heard it too and gently lifted Angie from her crib and sat on the queen sized bed.

"Stay here Cass, keep our baby safe" Joe whispered and the nineteen year old girl nodded.

Joe went to the door and Cassie grabbed his arm. "Be careful baby, you could be outnumbered" she warned.

Joe smiled and kissed her cheek, then kissed the baby's head.

"Nothing I can't handle Cass, Frank taught me well" he promised.

Joe kept his word. To his relief only one guy stood there and Joe had the upper advantage. The man's back was to him.

He turned and was clocked by Joe's fist. By the time two men ran into the room he had him tied up with a bed sheet.

While his kid brother fought his suspect, Frank Hardy clung desperately to the cliff he had been thrown off. He was about ten feet from the top and he could feel the rock he clung to coming loose.

"Someone help me! Joe where are you bro? I need you, I never even got to say goodbye" he yelled out, knowing fully no one was around.

It made him feel better though. Before his death he got it out.

Just as the rock came loose, a rope hit him in the face.

"Grab hold" a voice called out, holding on to the rope with all his might. The voice sounded familiar and Frank grabbed the rope.

With his new friends help the nineteen year old climbed up and was on solid ground again in less than a minute.

"You all right son?" the man asked. Frank looked up at Fenton Hardy and nodded. While happy to be saved, Frank was disappointed at his rescuer.

Fenton saw the look but did not mention it. "I saw the man who pushed you run towards the cabin" he said instead and the two hurried towards it.

While running both men couldn't help but think of how empty it felt. They were a trio not a pair.

It had been eighteen months since Joe Hardy had disappeared. So it became a little surprising to see their man was caught by the missing man.

Frank and Fenton ran into the cabin expecting a fight but saw only their man on the floor being tied up by a blonde man.

"Joe?!" both said simultaneously and the man looked up and then back down.

"Lose something Frank?" he asked when he finished.

"Joe? Is it safe yet?" A woman then called out and Joe answered for her to come out and bring Angie.

"Dad, Frank, you remember Cassie, I'd like though to introduce hers and my daughter Angelina Marie Hardy" Joe said taking his baby girl.

"You're a dad?" Frank asked, shocked. Joe nodded.

"It's why I left…I was already the bad son, didn't want to hassle you with accidentally getting my girlfriend pregnant" Joe answered. His eyes were on Fenton the entire time.

_There you have it. One story about each boy. I'll try and continue them both when I get ideas. _


	2. Chapter 1, the imperfect Hardy

Joe Hardy had been hurt before. He'd broken bones, had been given bruises, cuts, even burns.

He'd also been called names before but never like this.

He snuck into the house, coming back from Cassandra's, his new girlfriend.

They had been dating two months and Joe felt it was getting serious. He didn't realize how serious till he saw the object.

She was pregnant, it was his. Joe took the test as she had taken three of them and left, promising to call her later.

He wanted to tell his father first and get it over with but stopped when he saw him at the table. In his hands were the boys grades.

"I just can't believe this, Frank's just as busy and comes home with straights A's" Fenton was muttering to himself.

Fenton was sitting at the dining room table, his back to Joe, who stood and stared at him. He clutched a soda and an object that had changed his life.

"Where did I go wrong raising you Joe? You're smarter her than to get D's" Fenton muttered.

Joe sighed, his shoulders sagged. 'If my grades disappoint him this much, he'll disown me for this' he thought looking at the object in his hands.

Joe crept out, without making a sound. He went upstairs to his room and closed the door before the tears fell.

"I am worthless, Frank's the perfect child, I'm just…imperfect" he muttered.

With that, Joe packed a suitcase, planning to run away. He called Cassie and she immediately asked to go with him. She was too scared to face her parents as well.

They were only seventeen, a baby meant complications Cassie realized. She wouldn't abort though, not her child.

By that night, both would be gone.

_There you have it chapter 1. Now you know the full reason of Joe's disappearance, _


	3. Cassie's dilemna

Cassandra Elizabeth Dowell packed quickly, wiping the tears as they came.

She hid the suitcase in her closet just as her father, Andrew Dowell, knocked.

"Come in" she called out and the door opened.

"Hi princess" amiddle aged man said gently and Cassie forced herself to smile.

"Hi daddy" she said. She noticed the letters in his hand and groaned to herself.

'What did my perfect sisters do now?' she wondered. She had two older twin sisters both twenty-seven. Both college graduates.

Caitlyn was a doctor and Cathy was a dentist. Both were successful.

"Caitlyn is pregnant, can you believe it? I am just so glad both of them waited, getting it young is so pointless" he said.

Cassie gulped. 'Pointless, right' she thought. Now she was glad she had already made her decision to follow Joe Hardy.

"That's wonderful daddy, I am so happy for her" she said. Cassie was happy for her sister just not jumping for joy happy.

"How is Cathy?" she asked and her father and he opened the second letter.

"Very happy, can't wait to see us and is still planning her wedding date" he answered. Cassie nodded.

Her sisters were too perfect though. Caitlyn married a month ago and Cathy was now marrying soon.

Cassie was stuck as the baby. She smiled at her father and clutched at the test in her tight fist.

'No way I can show him, no way he'll get it' she thought.

Cassie's father kissed her head then. "I'm glad I still got you baby girl, my sweet princess" he said and Cassie nodded.

'You won't want me daddy, not anymore' she thought.

She followed him down for dinner then hurried back to her room to sweep her room. She filled her school bag, grateful that she had already graduated in the summer because she had skipped a grade.

Joe had not but he didn't care.

A few hours later at eleven, Cassie slipped out and onto Joe's bike and the two raced off.

He had greeted her with a kiss first and a loving smile.

"This feels right, we only need each other and our baby boy or girl" he said and she nodded.

"Lets go Joe, lets put the past behind us" Cassie said and Joe nodded and they left her house, then her street. They left their lives behind.

By morning both families were frantic but couldn't get a hold of either teenager.

"They both left notes but they don't say much only that they were going together and not sure if they would come back, if ever" Fenton said.

Frank shook his head.

"Dad…Joe's going to be fine and so is Cassie, he'll protect her" he said though he did not like his baby brother out there alone.

"I know son, I just wonder why they left…what could have scared them so much that running away was their only option" Fenton voiced but neither family had a solution.

"I'll gather our friends, we'll find him" Frank offered and ran out and a second later they heard a motorcycle speed off.

"This is not good Fenton, your son kidnapped my little girl" Andrew yelled and Fenton shook his head.

"Joe is many things but he is a good kid, they both did something bad" he said and Andrew quieted.

"Cassie was a good kid too, I can't think of anything that would make her run" he said.

"She always was competing with the twins" Eliza piped up and Fenton nodded.

"That's just sibling rivalry, Joe always tried to outshine Frank as well, I just don't get it…he always talked to me" Fenton said.

None of the adults voiced the one reason they feared. They just couldn't believe that.


	4. The fighting begins

_Hi everyone, okay I am not sure exactly when you get those tests when your pregnant so to be safe this chapter is two months later._

Cassie watched from the couch as Joe talked on the phone. He hung up and looked at her.

"All right, the appointment is set and we go in tomorrow" he said and Cassie glanced at the floor.

"Cass…you okay baby?" Joe asked and she shook her head.

"I…I want my family" she murmured and Joe shook his head.

"Cass…it's been two months…we're fine…our baby will be fine…let me handle us" Joe said.

Cassie looked at him.

"Yeah because the first months are easy Joseph, now I'm getting fatter and I'm scared and I just want to fucking go home" she yelled.

"Well what did you expect Cassandra? This was going to be fucking easy?"

"No of course not, but god damn Joe if fucking sucks"

Joe rubbed her back.

"I know babe" he said softly and Cassie glared at him.

"No you don't you fucking idiot, why don't you carry around our child for a while"

"Cass calm down, come on lets go lay on the bed"

"Don't touch me" Cassie yelled and broke free from Joe. "Call my parents I can't do this Joseph" she yelled.

Joe followed her. "We can do this Cassandra, I'm not calling either of our family, I'm going to prove to Frank and my dad I am responsible" he yelled.

"I said call my parents you ass hole"

"No Cass! Don't give up" Joe shot back. Cass went to the bathroom and Joe followed.

She grabbed something off her sink and as Joe told her not to give up she chucked it at him.

The hair dryer hit his forehead and Cassie walked past him and laid on her bed ignoring her boyfriend.

Joe took it as a cue to shut up and he ran out. He closed the door and went to the kitchen and made a bag of ice.

"This is going to be a long seven months" he whined.


	5. contemplating ideas

_Hey anyone still with me? Sorry for neglecting this. Oh and Nancy won't be apart of this one I decided just my other Hardy story. _

While one Hardy fought his girlfriend the other was fighting.

"What is wrong with you Frank? You call yourself a detective yet you can't find your own brother?" he scolded himself pacing his room.

He stopped and his eyes rested on top of his dresser. On the framed picture of two little boys laughing. One was five and the other four.

A cute blonde blue eyed cute child laughing at a joke the brown haired and eyed child said.

He walked to it and lifted it. "Oh Joey, what's keeping you from me? Why can't I find you still?" he asked it but the child only smiled at him and he sighed.

His phone rang and like clockwork for the past two months he answered the same way.

"Joe?" he said and the voice sighed. "Still no Hardy, I really wish it was though" the voice said.

"Right, sorry Chet" Frank apologized. Always the same lines like a script written for everyone Frank spoke with.

The call was silent after as usual. It was just clockwork now. Since Joe Hardy left two months ago it was as though no one knew how to act anymore.

"Um Frank, do you think Joe murdered someone?" Chet suddenly asked and the script suddenly changed.

Usually he'd just hang up after realizing Joe hadn't been found.

"What!" Frank shouted at him unbelieving the stupidity his friend sputtered from his mouth.

"I know it's a long shot and he is your brother but…"

"Of course it's a long shot because Joe is the good guy remember? We solve crimes we don't create them!" Frank yelled.

Chet sighed. "He is still capable of it Frank and I'm not saying he'd kill in cold blood but your brother does have a temper, don't forget how he acted after my sister was killed" Chet continued his thought.

Frank froze in fear. In the last two months finding Joe was the only topic.

No one ever spoke of why he was gone, he was too famous for disappearing as the boys were pretty famous and a lot of people wanted them dead.

"Yeah I know but he didn't kill her killer, I was there, Joe can't kill a man it's not his way" Frank said after a moment.

"If you say so" Chet replied. Frank couldn't believe their friend sounded so doubtful.

"Chet, do you really believe my brother and your friend Joe could be a killer?" he asked.

To Frank's relief the boy sighed. "Not honestly no, I am just trying to piece why he'd suddenly vanish and for so long. Joe just doesn't seem to be a guy who just gives up" he answered.

Frank nodded. Joe Hardy wasn't someone to give up. Neither of them were its what them such a good team.

"I know but something spooked my brother, maybe he and Cassie were kidnapped?" he suggested.

"Don't kidnappers kidnap so they can use a ransom?" Chet answered and Frank nodded.

"Yeah, I just don't know what to think Chet, it's been two months and mostly everyone in Bayport who cares is searching" Frank replied.

"Yeah, well call me if you get a lead, I know you can figure this out Frank and bring back Joe" Chet said.

"Thanks for the confidence buddy and you know I will goodbye" he replied and the two hung up.

'Only now I think your right Chet, Joe vanished on his own and he doesn't want to be found and neither does Cassie' he thought.

Frank hung up the receiver and turned off his bedroom light.

"Doesn't mean I have to stop trying, I can't just let my little brother think I don't care, what kind of awesome big brother would do that?" he mused.

He walked downstairs. "I'm off again mom, I promise you I will find our boy and bring him home" he told Laura stopping into the kitchen.

She turned and he could see despite the warm smile she gave him she was so tired.

Her eyes were always red from the on and off crying and every Hardy hadn't had a good night of sleep since Joe left.

"I know you will Frank, I have faith in you as always just be careful son I can't lose both of my babies" she said.

Frank wrapped his arms around her. "I'll be back later I promise I won't leave you" he whispered and she hugged him back nodding.

"Good, now go find my baby boy" she said and Frank left.

He got on his bike but it was just another night of failure. He could only ride and recheck every spot so many times.

'I hope wherever you are Joe, you and Cassie are safe, together and happy' he thought as he rode around town.


	6. The almost losses

Joe was always careful when he left the cozy cabin. He was grateful it was a few miles out of Bayport close to the mountains. He was also grateful the family stopped using it in the past five years.

The Hardy's stopped after Joe fell and broke his leg five years ago and they had to get him to a hospital. Laura stayed with him as Frank and Fenton cleaned up and got their stuff back home.

It took some cleaning up but Cassie and Joe soon made it as warm and inviting as when he was a child.

Joe though had to sneak away to get necessities a few times. He put on his hat and sunglasses after his head stopped throbbing.

He left a note on her door before leaving a little too scared to knock. He wasn't scared of much but a scorned girlfriend he definitely kept away from.

Joe took off and felt himself relax on his bike. He had also bought a small car for when he needed to take Cassie somewhere but he felt the best on his motorcycle.

He pulled into the first small market he found inside Bayport. He checked the cars and smiled as none stood out. As he went in though a familiar bike pulled in and parked a few spots away from his bike.

Frank walked in and took a quick glance around before sighing at another near empty store. Only three shoppers were moving and two was a mother and young girl.

The man in the coat looked strange though. He looked edgy and Frank frowned.

He followed the man careful to grab items and keep his eyes shifted when the man turned.

After a few minutes he slipped up though and their eyes met. Joe gasped silently behind his shades and hurried his shopping.

Frank followed him to the checkout and then outside and kept a distance and watched the man drive off on his bike.

'I should follow him and trust my gut but dad will probably kill me if I get arrested again' Frank thought.

In the end he let Joe get away who sighed with relief when he saw he wasn't being followed.

Joe got back and when he got inside Cassidy was waiting for him with a scared look on her face.

"Oh Joe!" she yelled and threw herself at him. "I am so glad your back, please don't ever leave me again" she begged as she cried on him.

"Cass I would never…didn't you see my note?" he asked.

Cassidy pulled back and shook her head so Joe led her back to the door. The note was on the floor and he picked it up and handed it to her.

She fingered it feeling foolish. "I guess it fell…I really didn't see it and when I came out and you weren't here…"

Joe put a finger to her lips with a small smile. "It's my fault Cass I should have told you I was leaving"

Cassidy nodded and Joe kissed her. "Lets just forget everything sweetheart and make some dinner, I bought your favorites"Cassidy nodded. "Okay, so what happened at the store, you look a bit shaken"

Joe shook his head. "Nothing…" he began and she folded her arms.

"Don't lie to me Joseph Michael" she warned so Joe told her about Frank.

Cassidy bit her lip. "Their close to us Joe…I…I…I am really scared"

Joe held her again. "He didn't follow me honey were still safe, they won't find us ever, they can't and you know they can't" he said and she nodded.

It was quiet the rest of the evening as both ate and then went to bed early their minds both spinning about their almost losses.


	7. Losing a brother forever?

_Hi, I know it been a while but I been busy sorry. Am going to try and finish my stories though. But this story may deal more on the boys, for one I have no idea about pregnancy I just wanted Joe to have a baby. I will say about a few more months passed. Around seven months now._

Frank Hardy couldn't believe his eyes as he walked into the market. It been a few months but Frank was sure it was the same man.

It felt eerily the same though. Only three were in shopping. A mother and her little girl and a man in a coat.

Frank kept watch on the man again and followed him around pretending to shop when he thought the man was suspicious.

The man soon left to check out and Frank followed carrying the items he needed to buy.

Joe put up his items and Frank grabbed the bar to separate his purchase. Joe snuck a fast peek as Frank put up his stuff and groaned.

'Not again' he thought panicking slightly. Frank glanced up and Joe quickly turned away.

'I make him nervous why?' Frank thought. 'It can't be…' he thought.

Frank watched as the man paid for his items and grabbed his bags. He then got to pay for his stuff and hurried after the stranger.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Frank called as the man was getting on his bike as he finishing securing the packages to it.

Joe didn't answer. Instead he put his hand in his pocket and grabbed a small tube.

'Sorry bro, I really am' he thought. Frank moved closer to him and Joe whipped out the mace and fired.

"Ahhh" Frank yelled as the stuff burned his eyes. Joe watched Frank fall and he felt a lump in his throat. In all his life, he never hurt Frank and now he watched him crumple to his knees and all he could do was run away.

Tears fell from inside his helmet as he hurriedly pulled out of his space and move.

'Please forgive me Frank but I can't go home, not ever' Joe thought hating himself for hurting his brother.

He quickly got home and brought in the items and ignored Cassie's worried expression.

He put them on the table and didn't look at her. "Put this away Cass I have a headache" he said and walked away.

She watched in shocked silence and nodded. "Okay, are you sure I can't…" she asked and Joe shook his head.

"No, I just need to be alone" he said his voice emotionless. Joe walked to their bedroom and locked the door.

He fell on the bed and cried again letting all his emotion drain out causing him to fall in a dreamless sleep.

Frank by now managed to blindly get back in the market and a cashier came to his rescue.

"Sir are you okay?" the man who rang up Frank's groceries asked.

"Yeah, just show me where the bathroom is" Frank said and the man led him.

"Do we need to call the cops?" The man asked and Frank shook his head as his hands touched the door.

"It's nothing sir sorry I had to trouble you" he said and went in and threw water on his face.

When his vision cleared he stared at his reflection. "It must have been him, I can't believe my brother…." he said to the mirror and stopped.

"My god…what if Chet is right…" he murmured. He wouldn't have believed it if Joe hadn't maced him.

'Now what the hell am I supposed to do? Abandon my little brother?' he thought and for once had no brilliant solution.


End file.
